Apologies, but I am currently knee deep in sushi and shrines on the other side of the world in Japan. I will be back to the usual tea and crumpets when I return to the office on [DAY OF WEEK], [DATE]. If you have an urgent query about [BUSINESS] before then, please don’t hesitate to contact [NAME] in my absence. [EMAIL]. Thanks so much.
A literary agent I follow told the story of a long argument her autoreply had with a would-be author. She’d set up the outbound email while out of town and apparently an author who queried her with his book took offense to it. He replied back in frustration that he didn’t get a personal response. Her autoreply sent back another automated message, which he then in increasing anger kept responding to.
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Rather than a number of days or vague phrasing like “this week,” giving exact dates helps prevent confusion and lets senders know when they can expect a response from you.
This information will help the person reaching out to you gauge whether their message can wait for your response or if they need to contact someone else instead.
I’ll be back on [DAY OF WEEK], [DATE]. No explanations, no apologies, no promises to respond, no redirects to other colleagues. It works.
My OOO replies are relatively boring…usually state if I’m using PTO or at a conference, dates, who to bother in my place, etc.
Have you ever had one of those most amazing kind of days; the kind of day that you will remember when you are old and gray and telling your grandchildren stories? Well, I seem to have those days quite often. In fact, if you’re seeing this message, it’s probably because I’m having one of those kinds of days today, and I’m not going to respond to your message.
My favorite OOO to set is something like this: “I’m at sea from X to Y with very limited bandwidth. I’ll reply to urgent emails as soon as possible (but there may be a delay); if you don’t hear back from me by Z, please resend you message.”
Too little info is frankly worse, IMO. All you need for an OOO is date you are coming back, and who to contact in your absence if it can’t wait for your return. If it doesn’t have that, why bother having one at all?
My European colleagues get an extended summer holiday all at the same time, which means we get OOO notes like this:
Stav is a senior editor and writer at The Muse, where she covers careers and work with a focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace. Before joining The Muse, Stav was a staff writer at Newsweek, and her work has also appeared in publications including The Atlantic, The Forward, and Newsday. Stav earned a B.A. in history with a minor in dance at Stanford University and holds an M.S. from Columbia Journalism School. She won the Newswomen's Club of New York's Martha Coman Front Page Award for Best New Journalist in 2016. She prefers sunshine and tolerates winters grudgingly. You can find her on LinkedIn and Twitter and can visit her website here.
2. Out of office sick leave template. You don’t need to tell the sender too much, but it is important to say you won’t be available. If it is a long-term illness, you might not have a date set for your return.
Confirm your greeting is set for each day you are closed to play the “holiday” or “closed” greeting. Check your on-call option is working properly, when applicable.
These messages are generally formal in nature and have the information about the unavailability of an individual and also the details of the person who can be contacted in his/her absence.
5.) Chers clients, notre bureau sera fermé du 24 décembre au 2 janvier. Vous pouvez nous contacter comme d’habitude le lundi 5 janvier. Nous vous souhaitons à vous et votre famille un joyeux noël et une nouvelle année réussie…
We also had company wide announcements that all of Spain was going on holiday in July, and then France would be gone on August, so please wrap up any business for the summer before then :’)
Website: https://www.interimbusiness.com.au/7-ways-to-announce-your-holiday-office-closure-to-the-world/